Apparently following the example of the smoking-ban campaign, several federal and state agencies (including the EPA and the CDC), other world governments, world health organizations, and private no-noise groups are compiling data to show that noise is an increasing public health problem. The CDC says that noise can have the following adverse health effects: hearing loss, sleep disturbances, cardiovascular and psychophysiologic problems, performance reduction, annoyance responses, and adverse social behavior. Studies also describe the negative impact of excessive noise on a community's quality of life. Finally, the cost of noise pollution is being tallied. These costs range all the way from individual medical expenses to the construction of highway noise-abatement walls. Do these tactics sound familiar? The only real difference here is that there are no deep pockets (i.e., tobacco companies) to sue. Or are there? That hand hasn't yet been played.
It's also worth noting that smokers as a group didn't volunteer to stop smoking in public places or restrict their smoking in any way. Many individual smokers chose to be polite and honor the wishes of nonsmokers. A few smokers remained outspoken and loudly proclaimed their right to smoke. Today you see similar behavior among bikers. However, with smokers it didn't make any difference.
Many motorcyclists rightly assert that they shouldn't be singled out by special laws that restrict the sound of their pipes. What about all those other more obnoxious and often dangerous sources? The fact of the matter is that, deservedly or not, motorcycles appear on almost every list of major noise offenders. For example, the Right to Quiet Society (www.quiet.org) lists as its No. 3 objective (out of 21) "better enforcement of laws governing unmuffled vehicles, especially 'chopper' motorcycles." Bikers are targeted right after regulating aircraft over populated areas, national parks, and wilderness areas but well ahead of the "elimination of 'boom cars'" (No. 11).
In another example, the AMA reports in the September '04 News & Notes that New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg proposed rewriting the city's noise regulations to deal with the leading complaint about the city's quality of life. The changes would prohibit any sound that increases the ambient noise inside a residence by 10 decibels during the day and 7 decibels at night. This latest effort is part of Bloomberg's attempt to fight noise by cracking down on loud bars, cars, and motorcycles.